Craft show in Dutchess County, NY

I went to a fabulous craft show today! This was the cream of the crop- a juried show of over 300 extraordinary crafts people; Crafts at Rhinebeck. Rhinebeck is over 60 miles from my home, but close to my youngest daughter's home. I picked up Jen at her home and off we went for the day. I had moments of deja vu- I was at the same fair 30 years ago as a young woman- before kids and when I lived in New Jersey and the trip to Rhinebeck seemed a world away back then.

There was one particular artist I wanted to meet- Andy Smith. He is a watercolor artist that I really admire. His work is amazing and I've followed his blog for quite some time now. When I saw that he was at this show, I wanted to go to see his work in person. (He lives somewhere in PA.) I was very happy to meet him- he was very appreciative of the idea that I came to see his work in person. His larger original watercolors run in the $1500.00 and up range, so I bought a print called "Warm Glow". He signed and dated the back for me. I love it! Funny thing- my daughter and I split up and looked all through his booth and bins of prints and when we met up again, we both had picked out the same print!

I also bought a beautiful piece of pottery from the artisan Ede Walker. It's a large covered casserole dish and is perfect for baking mac 'n cheese. It has bands of gold, blue and green, like this bowl.

I also bought a beautiful basket, but the artisan doesn't have a website. I plan on using the basket in my studio to corral my huge stack of current art magazines. (I swear they multiply all on their own!) Notice I say 'current', as I have an entire shelf of older art magazines. I finally broke down and started cleaning out the older magazines...it's hard to let go sometimes!!